Hospitality's Guide
Posted on 01 Oct 2023 @ 2:36pm by Chief Petty Officer Ibis Xeri & Lieutenant Commander Maurice Rubens & Brek - Timeless Treasures Art Gallery & Krosin R'Trerah-Johnson
Edited on on 06 Feb 2024 @ 10:15pm
Mission:
M4 - Falling Out
Location: USS Cassiopiea, docking & boarding OC
Timeline: M4 D2 Early afternoon
3106 words - 6.2 OF Standard Post Measure
“Forty minutes, Irwin!” Jalaine was already fully prepared and hopped out of the chair in their cabin, her carry on bags at the ready. There was more luggage, of course, in the hold.
Irwin was propped up on the bed fully dressed as well. There was only the one chair, after all. He’d spent the morning reading a printed electronic ink paper, which he had synchronized with the Technology & Science, and Trade & Business sections of the InterStar Feed. He preferred to read it on old media format in place of holographic display or padd. He even wore glasses, although they weren’t a prescription, but augmented for additional hyper look up in the text, controlled by eye movements.
“Forty Minutes! Jalaine repeated, ready to head to the lounge as instructed.
“Mhm.” Irwin finally acknowledged as he came to the next column. Understanding that Jalaine expected him to rise, he calmly said, “Let me know when we're docking.”
“Were you not hearing Captain Fairfax just now? We’re docking in forty minutes.”
“Oh, no I heard him. I just already took an early lunch, and I’m fine here until the ship is docked.” He lowered his paper and his glasses. “But if you would like to wait with any others in the lounge, I will meet you there. In forty minutes.”
Jalaine put her bags back down and paced back and forth.
Finally Irwin put the business news down on his lap. *I can’t concentrate like this.*
*Concentrate! How can you try to concentrate on your work at a time like this! We’re about to see Ibis again!*
Irwin reached across the little cabin and touched his wife’s hand, drawing her to sit down on the bed beside him. He rubbed her arm until she turned to glare at him. He gave her a gentle look in return. *I'm only distracting myself, Imzadi. My heart can’t take all of the excitement, you know.*
*I know.* Jalaine leaned into Irwin’s arms and he held her for a while.
Rubbing his wife’s back, Irwin closed his eyes as he felt her calm for a few minutes. But a chronometer somewhere chirped and broke the cool crystal of the moment. Jalaine sat up straight again, pulling away. They looked at one another. Jalaine at the man who had grown thin, lost his hair and become age spotted. Irwin at his wife whose young face had softened and winkled and was covered in cosmetics. But they both saw their Imzadi, and both felt that fact ring out like a string pulled taut between now and yesteryear.
Jalaine playfully smacked him in the arm. “You can read your paper in the lounge,” she told him.
“I suppose I can,” he agreed.
They gathered themselves and took a final look around the cabin before making the short walk to the designated meeting place. Jalaine saw that the Ferengi were already there.
“Good day!” Jalaine sing-songed as her husband quietly gathered a coffee and took a seat at the far end of the room, opening his paper to form a privacy shield. The display boards in the lounge were showing the Loki system over all and the Obsidian Command approach and ETA now under twenty minutes and Jalaine motioned at it. “Isn’t it so exciting! The fastest trip in the fleet! Here in a day!” she declared.
Bong-Cha had been doing her best to ignore the Ferengi when the Xeris entered. She gave Jalaine a quick smile and wave with her fingers. Under a day was good, the quicker she could get to Moon-Young and get her off the godforsaken orbiting tin can, the better. “I’m very excited for you Jalaine, even if I’m not emoting it as much as I should.” She was always careful to watch her thoughts around the Betazoid women and urged what little enthusiasm she had to greater heights.
“It’s no matter!” Jalaine trilled to her friend. “You have dear Moon to worry about, of course. We will have so much more time to talk when we’re all safely back on Earth.
The Ferengi women had been the first to enter the meeting place. This had happened on the insistence of Ara who had informed Kreca that, when you wanted your comfort, you ought to make an effort, otherwise you were left with nothing. This Kreca found doubtful. From what she had seen, the Federation was akin to the land of plenty. They would never give their passengers a reason to complain. She was about to say so, but several passengers entered and she lost the impetus to contradict Ara.
“Ms Ara, are you going to be on the return trip? Who did you say you are visiting? A son? Is he to come back with you as well?” Jelaine never had felt quite right around Ferengi and had to remind herself to talk to them. With their four brain lobes they sometimes became something of a blind spot. It helped that many of them liked to wear ostentatious outfits.
“A good day to you too,” Ara replied. “I’ll say, even though I quite enjoy being grumpy, I cannot fault this vessel. We are truly being treated like VIPs. It is my grandson that I’m visiting. He lives on Obsidian Command, to my great regret, as there is little profit to be made on their promenade. Young people and their stubborn ideas. Are you going to O.C. for business or for pleasure, Ms?”
“I am going for joyous reunion! Our daughter Ibis was lost almost ten years ago, on the USS Sunrise. You see, she had enlisted on her eighteenth birthday, against every wish of mine, I tell you, and then of course, found herself missing.” She effectively glossed over the decade between and the one since. “Everyone told me she was likely dead. But I knew it couldn’t be the case. How, you might ask, well, I’ll tell you! As you probably well know, a mother intuits these sorts of things. And now they have found her very much alive, just as I said, and she can finally return home!”
Ara sipped some jasmine tea whilst the Betazoid woman told her tale. She wasn’t usually affected by people’s good or bad stories - unless there was latinum to be made, somehow, with their tribulations. However, here she listened with great attention. She would be devastated if any of her children, grandchildren and now the latest addition to her family, one extremely precious great-grandson was to disappear. She would, she felt, lose her sanity.
“Indeed, as a mother and a grandmother, I also know things instinctively. How unfortunate that your daughter wasn’t wise enough to follow your wisdom. I fear that with its promises of grand adventures and great careers, Starfleet is destroying a lot of families.”
“So many! I am not opposed to Starfleet.” The Betazoid woman motioned around them at the very ship they were on, “But it does seem to sparkle the eyes of the young without appropriate gravity, ensnaring unsuspecting recruits!”
“My grandson also joined them, you know.”
Jalaine was aghast. “Did he?!”
“A Ferengi, in uniform. I ask you! Thankfully, he resigned recently - I believe I played a part in this wise move. Sadly he will insist on living on Federation facilities. He would never accept to follow me in Ferengi space.” She sighed. “Have you taken steps to obtain reparations? The Fleet should pay dearly for what happened to your daughter. I hope many questions are asked and answered too, regarding her trials.”
Jalaine’s head tilted in thought. “I hadn’t considered any kind of monetary repayment. After all the anguish, how could any amount even begin to repay our suffering?”
“Sure, this is what you think now,” Ara added with confidence. “But when you see your daughter, I predict you will change your mind. Money cannot erase suffering, you are right. But it can make for a brighter future. Besides, if it turns out that the Fleet didn’t make a reasonable effort to locate the whereabouts of this USS Sunrise, then it is at fault, isn’t it just?
“I shall have to employ legal advice in the matter.”
“Sadly, I cannot help you in this matter. The only experts I know in this field are Ferengi. And we have not reached the time yet where Ferengi lawyers are appreciated at their fair value within the wider interplanetary community. Hmm... So, this daughter of yours, you will be taking her back to Betazed, then? Have you prepared everything for her return?”
“We still have a home on Earth. My husband has an office there. His business has passed on to our sons, but he continues to consult for them. He doesn’t feel retirement suits him. Besides, I have my Symphony to attend to. It would be quite disruptive to return to Betazed. Ibis did grow up on Earth. But if she would prefer to move to Betazed I would make arrangements and even sacrifice first chair for her sake. I wanted to move back when she was small, because of her development, you know, but Irwin’s consultancy was in full swing then. And we—”
There was a pleasant chime and a woman’s voice, the Comms officer, announced that the ship was presently docking. The observations screens cycled to an exterior view of the station, quickly filling the screen.
“Oh! How marvelous!” Jalaine enthused again. “I do travel now and again, you know, to visit my sons on Betazed. But our transits are not quite this grandiose! Often it’s weeks long on a private shuttle. By then you practically feel like jumping out of the portal from orbit yourself to get off the ship.”
Ara nodded her head. She had not expected to have so many common points with this Betazoid woman living on Earth. Not that she had any passion for the hewmon world. But she too had sons to visit, and daughters, and even obstinate relatives whose sole motivation seemed to destroy what she had spent 70 years to build. And so, she gave ample details on her family. There was, in her opinion, a dangerous trend within the youngest generation. Younglings who chose not to follow the profitable path set out for them. For whom the words ‘duty’ and ‘respect’ meant nothing. As for sacrifices, where should she start?
As Jalaine and Ara continued to converse about the benefits and drawbacks of travel, the viewscreen continued to display the docking procedure ahead of the vessel. The station grew larger, until they were swallowed up like a minnow by a whale, and then once inside the giant space garage, the ship softly navigated on thusters until it met an open docking collar on the far side of the enormous bay. There was a soft bump that shifted the deck beneath them and then all the lights and screens dimmed, displaying affirmative dock.
A minute later, Azario showed himself from a corridor on a subdeck ramp as it opened up a rounded hatch below where he had been waiting to complete the airlock docking procedure. In tow behind him was a very tall Catian woman, her tail swinging behind her with her gait as she ascended the ramp.
“Ah! Good, I see you are all… here.” Azario double checked his head count with the names he had memorized of those passengers. “It’s my pleasure to see you safely transferred to the care of this Station’s hospitality services. You are all registered as special guests, having merited passage with the Cassiopeia, and I’ve taken the initiative and had your credentials pre registered with station security. There are scanners to pass through, but no lines to wait in. This is VIP express service, after all. Not only that, but I have arranged a representative specifically to see to you, so if you have any questions, you may directly speak with her yourself! This is Civilian Affairs representative Krosin R’Terah Johnson. From here forward she will see you to your accommodations. We’ll follow along with the baggage that you each registered. Miss Johnson, may I introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Xeri, Ara, Kreca, and Ms. Pak Bong Cha.” Azario motioned to each one in turn.
Krosin looked at each person as Azario introduced them, stepping forward as he finished. “Welcome to Obsidian Command, as Ensign Azario said I am here to assist as needed during your stay here. Starting with an escort to the guest quarters, this way please.” Krosin turned and started towards the airlock.
Bong-Cha was allergic to cats; she’d never been in the company of Catian to know if the same applied. Nevertheless, she boldly followed on the heels of Krosin. The sooner she found Moon, the sooner she could return to her normal routine (which, this time of year, included hot spring spas on Andor and massages, not journeying to the very edge of Federation space).
They exited the ship and entered the low-ceilinged rooms that served as the entry lounge for civilian travelers. The crisp white ceiling that undulated like a wave and the neutral toned walls with art many shades of orange, white, and black that depicted people toiling in a desert was just like every other backwater outpost Dae-Jung had dragged Bong Cha to during their marriage. Bah! Having to deal with ungrateful children was a nightmare.
Krosin stepped through a security scanner and stopped to wait for the guests to pass through, watching the security officer to signal they were clear to continue. A moment after everyone passed the officer nodded to Krosin to continue. Krosin turned to address the group again. “We can now proceed to the travel core, that will take us to the Promenade in the Habitat ring. From there we will take a Turbolift to the guest quarters.” Krosin started off towards the travel core.
Ara and Kreca observed, with round eyes, the Caitian with the long name and the long tail. “I didn’t expect to see anything like that,” the old Ferengi whispered, in Ferengi, to the younger one. “That’s what happens when you travel far and wide. You see remarkable things, and beings. I’m actually beginning to like this trip.”
“I’d agree with you that...” Kreca began, but Ara was entirely focused on the Caitian woman.
“Tell me, Ms Johnson,” Ara said with her usual croaking voice. “With such a name, are you too affiliated with the pervasive Terrans? I would like to be enlightened. Why is it that everyone seems to like this species and their planet so much? What is their secret?”
Krosin turned her head and looked at the inquisitive Ferengi. “Yes, I am actually married to a Human. I lived on Earth growing up since my father worked in the office of the Federation Councilor for Cait. It’s a beautiful planet and Humans have a fascinating culture and history.”
“Yes, I suppose one could say that,” Ara conceded. “They are certainly dynamic, as one can find them absolutely everywhere...”
As they followed along, Jalaine started to look more and more agitated. Irwin kept a steadying hand on the back of her shoulder. Often they exchanged looks, the glance of telepaths having an exchange between one another.
Irwin finally shifted his carry on bag to the other shoulder and grasped her fingers in his own, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. “You are sure, Ms. Johnson, that our dear Ibis is aboard this station?”
Krosin turned to the Xeri’s “Yes, she arrived yesterday with several others from the Sunrise. It caused quite a stir on the station.”
“But there must be some mistake!” Jalaine declared, on the verge of a fit of tears or shouting. It seemed only the fact she hadn’t decided which yet had restrained a real outburst.. “I can't sense her! I would never forget the sense of my own daughter, of my own womb!”
Krosin stopped and looked at Jalaine, her ears dropping slightly. “Mrs. Xeri, I don't know why you would be unable to sense her but I’m sure Ibis is here, and her identity has been confirmed by Bioscans.”
“See, Imzadi? There must be some explanation for our not sensing her yet.” Irwin soothed out loud. “It has been nearly a decade. People often change in such time so that they hardly resemble themselves. It will be clear all in good time.”
“It is true,” Ara said, quite surprised that Mrs. Xeri should be affected so much. In her book, showing your emotions in public was a no-go zone, as people could then be tempted to take advantage of you. “You worry too much, Mrs. Xeri. The Fleet told you that your daughter is on Obsidian Command, she will be there. Their honor depends on it. I’ll sue them myself if they let you down in any way.” She then turned her attention to the Caitian woman. “Since we are going to the promenade, are you going to show us the best restaurants and boutiques? One is a VIP, or one is not, after all...”
“I do believe that woman would sue the weather.” Jalaine muttered. Irwin repressed a smile.
“Mrs. Johnson, if you please,” Irwin interjected, “I believe it would be best for my wife and I if we briefly settled into our accommodations and then directly made ourselves known to our daughter. Perhaps we could trouble you for a tour at a later time.”
“Of course Mr. Xeri.” Krosin looked to Ara. “I can provide a proper tour of the Promenade once Mr. and Mrs. Xeri have seen their daughter.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t dream of imposing myself. But once the Xeris have been reunited, it would indeed be interesting to see how this Station is. Come on, Kreca, let’s follow everyone!”
Kreca followed, meekly, wondering if there was a slight chance she might avoid this tour and get some peace, instead...
Bong-Cha silently thanked Jalaine for her impatience; she, too, was feeling the gravity of her daughter. Unlike the Xeris, however, she had no intention of a ‘tour.’ Tours were for people who expected to stay on and see the sights. She had no intention of that!
“Very good. Very good.” Irwin paced alongside his wife, the two of them quieted for the remainder of the distance to their guest quarters. Externally quieted, at least…
